today we’re going to talk about oneof my favorite books

  So, today we’re going to talk about oneof my favorite books: Howards End, which is a great novel written by the English writerE.M. Forster. Howards End was first published in 1910 andit is possibly the best novel by E.M. Forster. And today, I will do my best to tell you whyI think Howards End is so great and why it is one of my all-time favorite novels. And if you are new to my channel, welcome,my name is Juan and I post a new book review every Saturday. The best way not to miss any of my reviewsis for you to subscribe and turn on the notifications bell. Okay, before I go into the novel itself, letme tell you about its author and the context in which he wrote Howards End. I think that sometimes knowing about the authorand the world he or she would have lived in can be helpful to understand and appreciatethe work. Of course, this is not always the case, butI think that when it comes to classics or books written by members of previous generationsto ours, knowing at least a few facts about them can be illuminating. And I think that’s the case with E.M. Forsterand his masterpiece Howards End. So, let’s talk E.M. Forster, whose fullname was Edward Morgan Forster. He was born in London in 1879, so he wouldhave been about 30 when Howards End was published. E.M. Forster was practically raised by hismother and a great aunt because his father had died when he was incredibly young. That would explain, at least partially, whyhe is so good at creating female characters – and female characters are central to HowardsEnd. E.M. Forster was a brilliant student. He went to Cambridge University and graduatedin 1901. He then spent about 19 years traveling aroundand living abroad. He visited Greece, Germany, India, Egypt,and other countries. And these experiences make their way intoForster’s fiction. I am thinking mostly of A Room with a Viewand A Passage to India, but even in Howards End, we can see some of this. Although the novel is set in England, someof the main characters are of mixed German origin and we know that Forster had spentsome time in Germany trying to learn the language. In case you are wondering, Forster inheriteda considerable amount of money from his great aunt and that’s why he was able to travelso much and focus as a writer. Although Howards End wasn’t his first book,I’ve read that it was his first major success. One thing is for sure, this novel earned hima reputation as a great writer and, as far as I am concerned, he more than deserved it. However, after Howards End, he only wrotetwo novels: Maurice, which was actually published posthumously in 1971, and A Passage to Indiain 1924. So, Forster stopped writing fiction in 1924when he was only 45 years old, and he lived for another 46 years (he died in 1970). Forster worked as an academic at King’sCollege and wrote literary criticism, essays, and journalistic pieces but never wrote fictionagain. And it is a bit of a mystery why he stopped. Luckily, Forster wrote great books. I haven’t read all his novels yet, eventhough he only wrote 6, but I think I’m going to correct that soon. I have read Howards End, and I think it isone of the greatest novels I’ve read, so let’s talk about it, without making anyspoilers. By the way, if you look at the descriptionbox for this video, you will find a link where you can buy Howards End and support my channel. Okay, so one of the things I love about HowardsEnd, and there are many things I love about this novel, is getting to chance to glimpseat what the world was like – at least, what Britain was like, only a few years beforeWorld War I. Those few early years of the 20th centurybefore Europe was ravished by two wars. A world in transition if you like. It still reminds us of the Victorian era,but it is no longer Victorian England. Strictly speaking, the novel is set duringthe Edwardian era. The Edwardian era was short because Kind EdwardVII, Queen Victoria’s heir, only reigned between 1901 and 1910. I think it is widely agreed that the Edwardianera spanned between King Edward’s coronation in 1901 until the advent of the Great Warin 1914. And E.M. Forster does not only present thisworld to us, but he explores it for us. He explores the questions of the time in England. He goes into the social changes, the economicforces at play, and even the most abstract ideas that would have been discussed backthen. So, how does he do this? In Howards End, there are three groups ofcharacters, each of which belongs to a specific social class with a different outlook on life. So, we have the Schlegel family: they areEnglish but of mixed German origin. They represent the upper-class intellectualsof the time. The Schlegels are idealists, in contrast withthe second group of characters: the Wilcox family. Now, the Wilcoxes represent the up-and-comingmaterialism and pragmatism that I think over time has won over and now dominates not onlyEngland but many countries around the world. Also, the third group is one that we can alsostill recognize. They are the Bast family, representing theworking poor. People who work hard but remain poor and don’tseem to have any possibility of ever moving up. So, the three families are The Schlegels,The Wilcoxes, and The Basts. And throughout the novel, the lives of themembers of all three families will become entangled in the same plot. I think the Schlegels and the Basts are theones who have more in common. Because some members of both families, despitetheir huge socio-economic differences, are idealistic. For instance, Leonard Bast believes that readingbooks can change his life and save him from almost destitution. His economic situation is so desperate, buthe still believes that he will find a better life if he only read the right books. And it is that belief that puts him in touchwith the Schelgels and thus kickstart the symbolic class mixture that was also beginningto happen in England at the time. The rigid social class structure of Englandwas beginning to change beyond all recognition and Howards End is a brilliant portrayal ofthat. But Howards End is also a fun novel to readwith a compelling, propelling plot. I mean, if you read for plot, and do not careabout any of these social questions, you will still have a great time with Howards End. The novel has many layers, but I am not hereto tell you how to read it. I just want to convey why I think it is sogreat and worth reading. But now I would like to go talk about theplot and go a little bit deeper so I am going to have to say goodbye to those viewers whohaven’t read Howards End or those who don’t want to hear any spoilers. Because between now and the end of this videoI am going to talk about the plot of the novel, its characters, and some of its themes ina lot more detail and there will be some spoilers. So, if you don’t want any spoilers, youhave been warned: you should stop watching now and I’ll see you again soon, I hope,for another book review. Okay, for those of you who are still here,I am going to summarize the plot of Howards End now. So here we go. The two main families are the Schlegels whosemembers are, as I said earlier, highly idealistic; and the Wilcoxes, which are materialistic. Both families seemed destined to be joinedbecause two of their younger members: Helen Schlegel and Paul Wilcox have a relationship. Helen and Paul have a brief romance that happenslargely off the text. Their brief romance doesn’t end well, anyway. And there’s also a misunderstanding abouttheir romance that is both stressful and hilarious at the beginning of the novel. However, once the romance is over, life goeson for the Schlegels and the Wilcoxes as if they had never met. Then enters the scene the third group of maincharacters, the Basts. We first get introduced to Leonard Bast, whois a young office clerk who, although formally uneducated engages in intellectual pursuits. So, one day Leonard Bast and Helen Wilcoxattend a performance of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Helen accidentally steals Leonard’s umbrella,so he follows her in the rain and ends at the Schlegel's home where he meets the restof the family, which is made up of Helen’s siblings: her elder sister Margaret and theiryounger brother Tibby. Just when the Schlegels think they will neverhave to deal with the Wilcox family again, they learn that the Wilcoxes have moved fromtheir country estate of Howards End to a flat just opposite the Schlegel home in London. The good news is that there is no chance foranything unpleasant happening because Paul is now living in Nigeria, and Helen is visitingher cousin Frieda in Germany. However, Margaret and Paul’s mother Mrs.Wilcox become friends. But not long after that, Mrs. Wilcox dies. She leaves a note in which she states herwish that Howards End be given to Margaret. However, her husband, Henry, and her son,Charles, who are both businessmen, decide to keep Howards End to themselves and nevertell Margaret about it. One evening, Margaret and Helen bump intoHenry. They tell him about Leonard Bast, the poorinsurance clerk they had met on that rainy afternoon when Helen accidentally stole theguy’s umbrella. Well, Henry decides he must tell them thathe knows for a fact that the insurance company where Leonard works is doomed to failure. Henry tells the Schlegel sisters that theyshould advise Leonard to find a new job. Leonard is desperate to improve himself. He reads all the time. He also looks up to the Schlegels becausethey are so cultured and idealistic. However, he sees their advice to quit hisjob as an intrusion and gets mad at them. Then, Margaret and Henry become friends, verygradually. But they do get close. At that time, the trend to turn big housesinto apartment buildings was beginning in London. So, when the Schlegels’ lease expires, theybegin looking for another house because their landlord wants to turn their house at WickhamPlace into flats so he can make a bigger profit. Margaret’s new friend, Henry, has the solution:he owns a house in London that the Schlegels could rent. But just as he is showing Margaret aroundthe place, he proposes to her, and she accepts. Before Margaret and Henry get married, however,there’s another wedding: that of his daughter Evie with Percy Cahill. After that wedding, Helen arrives with Leonardand his wife Jacky. Helen is mad because Leonard had left hisjob at the insurance company following their advice to do so, which was based on Henry’sopinion. Leonard had found another job but had thenbeen fired. So, now the Basts have no income. Helen blames her sister’s husband-to-beHenry for this. Margaret asks Henry to give Leonard a job. And he probably would’ve given him workexcept for the fact that Henry had had an affair with Leonard’s wife Jacky about 10years ago in Cyprus where she worked as a prostitute. To Henry’s credit, he tells Margaret allof this. She decides to forgive him (after all, theydidn’t know each other 10 years ago), but there will be no job for poor Leonard. Helen and the Basts are staying in a hotelin town waiting to hear back from Margaret about the job. In the evening, Jacky goes to bed, but Helenand Leonard stay up talking when they get a note from Margaret telling them that therewill be no job. One thing leads to another, and Helen andLeonard have sex. The aftermath is that they both regret it,Leonard feels guilty about it… and, oh, Helen gets pregnant. Helen goes to Germany and doesn’t tell anybodyshe is pregnant. Margaret and Henry get married and start anew life together. However, months later, Margaret begins toget worried about Helen. So, she comes up with a plan to surprise her. It so happens that after they left their Londonhome, the Schlegel family’s belongings were stored at Howards End. So, Margaret gets Helen to go there to getsome books. Margaret arrives as a surprise and finds outthat Helen is pregnant because it is showing. Margaret has a positive reaction to her youngersister’s pregnancy, but her husband’s reaction is not so positive. He even refuses to let Helen spend the nightat Howards End because she is unwed and pregnant. Margaret thinks her husband is a hypocritebecause wasn’t he the one who had an extramarital affair with a prostitute? Anyway, Margaret and Henry argue, and shedecides to leave him and go to Germany with Helen. But before the sisters move to Germany, Leonardcomes to Howards End to talk to Margaret. When he gets there, Henry’s oldest son,Charles, beats him up and a bookcase falls on Leonard causing him to die from a heartattack. The symbology of Leonard’s death is ironic. He, who was someone who thought that readingbooks would better him as a person, dies after being crushed by a bookcase. Charged with manslaughter, Charles is sentencedto three years in prison. After this, Henry, Margaret, and Helen moveinto Howards End. Helen and Henry learn to get along and Helen'sson is born. And they live there happily ever after! And that is the plot of Howards End. The estate of Howards End is central to theplot. The narrative both starts and concludes atHowards End. And in the end, the country estate is theplace where the idealists and the materialists must live together in harmony. The losers in this story are the Basts. The Schlegels and the Wilcoxes will, despite,their differences learn to live together eventually. But the Basts are not only excluded from this;they are also victims: Leonard loses his job and then dies because of that marriage (symbolicand real) between the Schlegels and the Wilcoxes. However, something of the Basts lives on becauseHelen’s child is also Leonard’s son. Although of course, the child will never beable to meet his father. Now, I think Forster’s novel is highly symbolicof the social changes that were happening in the early 20th century. But he also manages to write a novel thatworks as a story, the plot of Howards End is compelling. And I am not the only one who thinks so. English writer Zadie Smith based her novelOn Beauty on Howards End, adapting its plot to early 21st-century life and throwing raceinto the mix of socio-economic differences between the characters. Smith borrows part of the plot and, from memory(I read On Beauty when it first came out in 2005), she does it successfully. But, going back to Howards End, through itsplot, which seems plausible and not as contrived as that of Victorian novels, Forster managesto intertwine the lives of two families, each representing two sides of the same coin. That coin being the English upper class. Howards End is full of philosophical ideas,mostly expressed through dialogue between the different characters. Almost any scene where Margaret is presentwill contain some philosophical ideas. And it is fascinating to see what ideas werebeing discussed in Britain only years before World War One. But I also want to highlight that HowardsEnd is a lot of fun to read. The novel has a compelling plot, and interestingcharacters (not only the Schlegels). Its author, EM Forster shifts with ease fromcomedy to tragedy while also managing to move the reader. Of course, some of the language might seema bit old fashioned to us now, but I would ask you to try and get over what may seemto us like language affectation. I think this novel deserves to be read andre-read. And, although I haven’t read everythingthat EM Forster wrote, from what I have read I can say that Howards End is the best. Hands down. And, well, if you have made it to the endof the video, thank you. Now, please let me know what you think aboutall this or any of this in the comments section below. I would love to hear from you! I’m signing off now. This is all from me. I hope that you are all doing very well andhope to see you again very soon for another book review. Bye for now!